ETIENNE-JULES MAREY FUSIL PHOTOGRAPHIQUE 1882
Marey designs and builds what was to become the world's first portable
motion picture camera (Janssen's pistol/gun camera of 1874 was not portable, but canon-like and stationary).
Marey designs and builds a
camera in the shape of a 'rifle' which is used to take
12 frames of birds in flight. The 'Chronophotographs'
as they were called, were taken at a speed of 1/720th of a second.
Marey called his "rifle" a Fusil Photographique.
Disk
Used In Marey's Fusil Photographique
Chronophotography
consisted of exposures made using plates of glass (above),
or on thick strips of primitive film. In the case of the film, Marey
was able to use his 'rifle' camera (below) to make multiple
exposures. His camera also circumvented the cumbersome method of
Muybridge's large stationary cameras. A physiologist, Marey became
fascinated with the problem of analyzing how insects, birds, animals
and humans move.
Marey's
Fusil Photographique 'Rifle'
(Marey
Rifle image thanks to Russell Naughton)
He created
several methods of obtaining time and motion recordings by means
of mechanical or pneumatic devices attached directly to the subject,
which activated a pen resting on a band of moving paper. Marey's
meeting with Muybridge in 1881 convinced him of the value of photography
for his work. He went on to invent a number of repeating-shutter
cameras most of which recorded a series of images on a single plate,
allowing a flow of the movements to be analyzed. His various devices
and inventions were the foundation of a number of motion
pictures, slow motion and high-speed cameras and projectors
developed, and commercially exploited by others. His sequence pictures
were at least as valuable and influential, as those of Muybridge
in establishing the modern techniques of physiological movement
analysis.
In 1882 Marey gave
up on his Chronographic work, moving to Chronophotography.
His preference to follow the movement of birds from one perspective
(as opposed to the Muybridge method of twenty-four [albeit slightly]
perspectives), led to the Fusil Photographique
or photographic 'rifle'. Through this method Marey was
now capable of moving with the bird in air, as in panning. Each
phase of movement was exposed on one gelatine plate in the camera.
Marey actually found the smaller the creature, the better the response.
Larger subjects like people and horses tended to be over-lapped
on the plate due to the shorter intervals between exposures. However
this difficulty was overcome in human forms by the black suit/striped
appendages.
The illustration immediately below is entitled "Flight of
the birds according to the instantaneous photographs of Mr. Marey", from 1882.
Illustration
Showing The Fusil Photographique
FUSIL
PHOTOGRAPHIQUE IN ACTION
Marey's mobile camera
allowed for the birds to be followed more easily than
a stationary camera. He therefore shared the idea of the
Janssen 'revolver'. Simply by aiming his gun
at the flying birds, Marey was able to place twelve exposures
along the outer edge of the plate.
The very end of the
barrel could be moved in or out thereby providing focus.
At the bottom of the end of the barrel [centre of
the gun], housed the magazine containing the gelatine
plate.
In front of the plate
was another disk, opaque, with twelve shutters, and in
front of that disk, one more opaque disk with only one
opening.
Footage
(above) of Marey's Fusil Photographique being used
to create chronophotographs of birds. The art of cinematography
illustrating one of the important steps in it's own discovery. This
gentleman (left) is using the rifle with disk
option as opposed to the film magazine option. Notice
that he removes the magazine and places it over his
shoulder.
The film (above) of the Fusil Photographique
in use was not taken in 1882, but at a later date.
How
Marey's Bird Would Have Looked Using His Fusil Photographiqu by animation
Of The Twelve Frames.
By
firing the trigger, all three disks moved with the help
of a clocked mechanism (see below).These photographs of birds were to this point in his
experiments, the most exciting to date.The rifle's portability allowed a new form of perspective
to be captured while keeping the subject within the frame.This was soon to be known as 'panning', which quickly
caught on and in the early twentieth century became a
staple of filmmaking. Although
Le Prince, the Lumieres, Edison and Melies shot their original
experimental films with stationary cameras, Marey's rifle
allowed motion from both camera and subject, thereby enhancing
this sense of 'movement'. Panning would be incorporated
into cinematography very soon.
What
the bird on the disk (above) looked like when
projected.
Marey's
sequential photography was as important as the work of
Muybridge, in establishing the modern techniques of physiological
movement analysis. Marey preferred to work with smaller animals in studying
their movements.Marey and Muybridge had met a year earlier in1881.
Eleven
of twelve birds on the disk. Clocked
shutter mechanism showing the disk.
E.
J. Marey
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